Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a process for manufacturing an elastic roller and a coating apparatus, and particularly relates to a process for manufacturing an elastic roller which is used for an electrophotographic image forming apparatus such as a copying machine and a laser printer and an electrophotographic process cartridge, with the use of a circular coating head, and a coating apparatus which is used in the process.
Description of the Related Art
As for a technology concerning the process of manufacturing the elastic roller by using the circular coating head, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2011-224451 discloses a method for cleaning a circular slit, with the use of a disk member which is formed of an elastic material that has a larger outer diameter than a diameter of a center hole of the circular coating head and can be inserted into the center hole. This method can suppress a phenomenon that a coating material having remained in the inner part of the circular slit of the circular coating head leaks out in a period before the next ejection is started after the previous ejection.
The present invention is directed to providing a process for manufacturing an elastic roller in which a streak on the surface of a coating film is hardly generated, even in the case where a plurality of elastic rollers is manufactured.
In addition, the present invention is directed to providing a coating apparatus which can be used in manufacturing the elastic roller in which the streak on the surface of the coating film is hardly generated, even in the case where the plurality of elastic rollers is manufactured.